Role of female slaves in the ancient Balts societies

Issues related to the history of slavery in Lithuania have neither been properly studied nor have they drawn a greater international attention yet due to the scarcity of sources. This aspect of the early history of Lithuania can be brought to light by employing only very sparse sources and the comparative context as the background. The social structure and evolution of Lithuanians and other Balt peoples resembled that of societies in Northern and Eastern Europe. The historiographic description of Lithuanians as “Vikings of the overland”, by Edvardas Gudavičius, represents more than a mere metaphor as it reveals typological similarities which become evident in comparing Viking and Curonian societies. The same is true speaking of other Balt tribes.

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